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Fresno Grizzlies: Building a Solid Social Media Game Plan

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Social media plays an important role in the marketing plan of the Fresno Grizzlies, a Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, and the team depends on the fast Internet speeds and high degree of reliability it gets with Comcast Business Class services to support its efforts, says Jerry James, director of corporate sales for the Grizzlies.

The team’s marketing strategy rests on three pillars: strong corporate sponsorships; robust community outreach, such as its new Fresno-Grown Community Ag Zone; and a loyal, enthusiastic fan base that fills the seats at Chukchansi Park in downtown Fresno.

Clear social media goals

“We do rely heavily on social media to reach out to our fan base with updates, special offers, and promotional opportunities with corporate partners,” says Jerry James, the team’s director of corporate sales. “Currently, the Fresno Grizzlies has almost 21,000 ‘likes’ on Facebook and more than 11,000 followers on Twitter.” The team’s primary objectives for its social media marketing program are building brand loyalty, driving traffic to its website, and boosting ticket sales.

The Grizzlies’ social media effort is tightly integrated in its overall marketing plan and complements or supports other strategies. “We consolidate resources by platforming our social media to cover marketing, special promotions and contests and to update player status information,” James explains. While he is pleased with the team’s social media marketing to date, James is convinced it can do even better. “Currently, I feel that the Grizzlies are falling short of utilizing the full capability of our existing platform. We are improving, but I know we can and must do better to capture the full benefits of social media.”

A strong technology foundation

One thing James doesn’t have to worry about as far as stepped-up future marketing efforts are concerned is having the technology infrastructure he needs to support them. The team relies on two Comcast Business Class services to ensure fast Internet speeds and reliable voice service: Comcast Business Class Internet and Comcast Business Class Trunks, a scalable voice solution.

“We didn’t have full confidence in our previous Internet and phone provider and weren’t willing to risk our business coming to a grinding halt, so we began looking for a more reliable solution about a year ago,” James says. “With a quarter of our tickets purchased online and 60 percent over the phone, reliable service was a top consideration. Losing Internet access and telephone service would be crippling to our operation.”

Comcast Business Class Internet provides the Grizzlies with speeds up to 100 Mbps download/10 Mbps upload, making it faster and easier for the team to upload digital media files to the vendors who produce its marketing collateral for fan outreach. Comcast Business Class Trunks serve as the foundation for the team’s ticket sales. The highly scalable voice solution utilizes the Grizzlies’ existing PBX, allowing it to order the exact number of channels it needs and providing features that are especially helpful to ticket sales. “Comcast has helped us become much more effective in our outreach to fans,” James says. “We’re breaking attendance records, and Comcast has definitely played a role in that success.”